MESA, Ariz. --- The Park University Gilbert softball team (3-1) earned a pair of wins over the British Columbia University Thunderbirds (5-5), Wednesday afternoon at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.
After starting the season with a loss at Arizona Christian, the Buccaneers have now won three games in a row.
Park-Gilbert put on a defensive clinic Wednesday afternoon, beating the Thunderbirds 3-1 in Game 1 and taking a dominant 8-0 win in Game 2, resulting in the run rule going into effect after six innings. This was the first-ever meeting between these two programs.
Game 1: PARK 3 UBC 1
After a scoreless 2.5 innings, Park-Gilbert jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
Catcher Noelle Gumm recorded her first RBI of the game with a groundout as center fielder Arianna Fjeldsted scored from third base. Later in the frame, center fielder Dionna Leanio stole home to give the Bucs a 2-0 lead.
The Bucs extended their lead to three runs in the bottom of the fifth, courtesy of a sac fly RBI from Gumm.
Park's shutout lasted until the top of the sixth inning, when UBC scored off a sac fly to center field.
Yazmine Bernal (1-0) got her first start and first win as a Buccaneer in the circle in Game 1. The junior transfer from Phoenix College pitched the whole contest, striking out two batters and allowing four hits off 101 total pitches. The one run given up was unearned due to an infielding error.
At the plate, Fjeldsted went 2-3 with a single and a double. Gumm recorded the only two RBIs in this contest.
The Buccaneers logged five hits and three errors to the Thunderbirds' four hits and one error.
Game 2:
The Buccaneers opened the second game by putting up at least one run in the first three innings of play.
In the bottom of the first, Gumm grounded out to the infield which drove in the game's opening run. Later in the inning, Chavez hit a sac fly to center field which scored Leanio.
Third baseman Mady Lackey hit a sac fly to right field in the bottom of the second, bringing designated player Jada Montoya home from third base.
In the bottom of the third, Fjeldsted hit her second home run of the season to make the score 4-0 in favor of Park. Five at-bats later, Montoya hit a sac fly to center field which drove Gumm home.
Chavez then hit her first home run in a Buccaneer uniform in the bottom of the sixth. This two-run walk-off homer extended Park-Gilbert's lead to 8-0 in the bottom of the sixth.
Grace Jump (1-1) got her first win in her Game 2 start, pitching all six innings. Jump threw 104 total pitches, striking out four batters and allowing five hits.
This was the first game in the 2026 season where at least two Bucs hit a home run.
Fjeldsted, through the first four games of the season, currently leads the Great Southwest Athletic Conference in homers with two. She was 3-3 from the plate in the second game of this doubleheader.
Park-Gilbert logged 11 hits to UBC's five, while each team recorded one error.
Up Next
The Buccaneers and Thunderbirds return to Arizona Athletic Grounds tomorrow morning, Feb. 12, to close out this non-conference series with another doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 11 a.m. MST, and Game 2 will commence 25 minutes after the end of Game 1.
